Paul Palmer
Temple University
Running Back, 1983-86

• Unanimous First Team All-American and Heisman Trophy runner-up in 1986.
• Led nation in rushing yards (1,866), rushing yards per game (169.6) and all-purpose yards (2,633) as a senior.
• Set 23 school records and remains Temple's all-time leading rusher (4,895 yards).
• Played for coach Bruce Arians.
• Becomes the first Owl player to enter the Hall.

Paul Palmer only spent a few days in St. Petersburg for the Gasparilla Bowl as Temple's color commentator, so he never received his "bowl swag." That is what he thought Rich Burg, the Owls' sports information director, wanted to deliver to him at Haddon Heights High — where Palmer works with special education students. Palmer, the former Owls running back, instead received something much more special: The commemorative football informing him of his election to the College Football Hall of Fame.

"He just looked at me and I'm looking at him like: Oh, you want me to open it? Because in the back of my mind I was kind of disappointed because I expected a backpack and a couple t-shirts," Palmer laughed. "So he gave me the box, I popped it open and I saw the football and I read the card inside. I had no idea.

"Then I had this box in my hand and I had to go back into this (prep) wrestling match and the athletic director was there, the athletic trainer was there, a couple of the teachers were there and they're like: 'What's in the box?' And I'm like: Oh man, I'm kind of embarrassed to show them what's in the box. So I show them and they're like: 'Oh wow, that's crazy.'"

Temple has three coaches in the Hall, but Palmer becomes the first Owls player. It's been a long wait for the 1986 Heisman Trophy runner-up, who led the nation in rushing (1,866 yards) and all-purpose yards (2,633) en route to unanimous First Team All-America honors.

When he called his wife, she got so emotional at the grocery store that people around her wondered if something was amiss. He also called his closest Temple teammates, and their reactions really drove home the meaning.

"I'm 53, (former Owls defensive back) Joe Greenwood is 51. I showed him around at Temple," Palmer said. "He texted me back saying he had tears in his eyes. He couldn't believe it. He was just happy. It's not just a big deal for me; I think it validates a lot of people associated with Temple football. It's not just me; it validates the great friends I've had for years that trained as hard as I trained who didn't get the same recognition… People that coached me when I was a kid, this is a feather in their caps. My high school coach, it's a feather in his cap. It's Bruce Arians, being a 32-year-old first-time coach and the only Division I coach who offered me a scholarship, it's a tremendous feather in his cap.

"When I go in, not by any stretch of the imagination am I going in by myself. Physically I'll be there and physically you'll see me, but I'm not walking there by myself."

Palmer admitted to having never heard of Temple as a prepster in Maryland. When he arrived in Philadelphia on his visit and saw a schedule that featured names like Pitt, Penn State, Syracuse and Boston College, he wondered aloud if the Owls would be playing those programs' junior varsity teams.

He can laugh at his naiveté now, especially after he carved up the region, winning ECAC player of the year honors, setting 23 school records and becoming the school's all-time leading rusher with 4,895 yards.

"Thirty years after his playing career, his pride in his school has never diminished; it's grown," Burg said. "As the radio color analyst for games now, he had helped form a bond between the current players and the past players that no one else is capable of doing."

Palmer will officially be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame during the 61st NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 4 in New York City.